Later that day, Eric Roeske, State Patrol public information officers, said, "there's been no evidence or no information that has been presented to us that would substantiate any of the allegations." It now appears he spoke too soon.

In a press release issued earlier today, Minnesota Public Safety Commissioner Mona Dohman announced that the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has launched a criminal investigation into allegations that a Hutchinson police officer provided marijuana to a DRE program participant last week.

According to the release, an officer from another law enforcement agency witnessed the activity. The witnessing officer, also a DRE participant, then reported the exchange to the Minnesota State Patrol.

Dohman also announced the immediate suspension of the DRE program, which has been ongoing in Minnesota since 1991. The program is intended to provide officers with intoxication-recognition training so they can surmise what substances have been used by intoxicated people encountered in the line of duty.

"Training law enforcement officers to detect drug impairment helps to keep our roads safe, but we need to ensure that all participants follow guidelines and operate within the law," Dohman said. "I have suspended the drug recognition evaluator training pending the outcome of these investigations and until we revisit and review the curriculum for the program."

In summation, it appears there is at least some fire under the billowing cloud of smoke created by the video report, which is the work of local independent media activists and members of Communities United Against Police Brutality.

Just one more reason to not trust the FIN cops. Its too bad we have to pay this corrupt ( proven time and again) group of people to protect ? I believe they make more money from the sale of the drugs they recover than not. They areprobably one of suppliers. Slime all of them !

my DARE officer got arrested for possession of meth, cocaine, and lsd. he also had "sexually explicit" videotapes and pictures and a "battery-operated sexual device inserted in his body" at the time of the arrest. he got off with probation and community service. look it up!

The real question is why at OccupyMinneapolis in Peavey Plaza? Why is it that other occupy encampments have also reported being inundated with drunk, intoxicated and mentally ill left off at their sites by police?

If there is an organized group targetting people exercising political/protected free speech - especially law enforcement - coordinated across state lines - it looks like something that could be deemed infringement of civil liberties "under color of law"

Oh no, the cops gave stoners weed!!!!! End of the effin' world this one is. Most of these small town cops have never even had a wiff of the danks so the program makes sense; and you know damn well that these kids were like "Free weed? hell yeah!" It may be misconduct on the officers part but overall I don't see anything wrong with giving users a substance they already use (in this case harmless ganja) so that LEO's can recognize how people behave on drugs that they themselves (the LEO's that is) have never been exposed to.

Growing up in small-town rural Minnesota in the '70s and '80s, it was common knowledge that the cops had the most and the best weed. What you had to do to get it, though...

Usually a kid who was socially vulnerable would get busted for typical teenaged behavior. The cops would give the kid a chance to stay out of trouble, for a price. The cops would keep them supplied with money and dope as long as, whenever asked, the kid would tell the cops who was up to what. When the cops needed something on someone in particular, the kid would have to come up with something, or get busted for their original offense, in addition to whatever weed they might have on them (from the cops) at the time. I heard rumors of sexual favors in a couple of cases as well. The kids had no way out; they were pre-selected to have bad reputations already, and no family resources willing or able to do anything about it if they even wanted to. If they didn't like it they usually moved to a larger town or joined the military. I can't imagine it's changed much in 30+ years.

The cops from Hutch just got sloppy with the typical small-town tactics.

it was given to others also.. and it wasn't just weed.. some where offered heroin. and then were dropped off downtown. this isn't just about Occupy of the two young adults in the video. This is about the immoral and unethical and maybe illegal actions by MN law enforcement. If you read what the program is you will know that officers weren't following the program. Law enforcement targeted already sick (addicted) people to give more drugs to. Then put them back into the public. And they did this with our tax dollars. ** I want to know how mucht this cost the tax payers. I want to do if Hennepin County Hospital had any cases with people who were brought in after receiving drugs from Law enforcementa and how much those bills are.

Just like Mainstream Media. We only have the words of a few individuals....In Fact its the same with the cops and politicians isn't it?But are we suppose to believe them and not the public?I prefer the word of the Public than any of the rest

Wow, that was interesting. It fits the guy named "Panda" in the video perfectly. He said he agreed to become an informant in exchange for a bag of weed. Supposedly, the police told him they'd come back sometime to tell him what they wanted from him. Also, they took urine samples.

But I don't believe the small-town spin of this investigation. There was a greater discussion going on. It wasn't just one country bumpkin who wandered into downtown Minneapolis and did this. This is an attempt to deflect the story to the paid administration leave of a single officer. Don't buy it at all.

I believe that. When I was in middle school that is what made me want to try them. The video we watched said many youth took drugs as as 'escape' from reality. I had a lot of stress in my world, and decided right then that if kids took the stuff for that reason, it must work and I wanted some....

You got me. But everything I've read throughout the years has indicated no correlation between the program and drug use. If they implemented it during middle school it may have been more effective. Drugs tend to enter a kids life during those years and with the knowledge being fresh, may have produced better results.http://erx.sagepubdotcom/content/21/4/483.abstracthttp://www2dotpotsdamdotedu/hansondj/controversies/20070111184521.html

You got me. But everything I've read through the years regarding the program is that there was no correlation between D.A.R.E. and future drug use. I would think implementing this program at an 8th grade level would have been more effective. Middle school is when that info would be fresh at a time when drugs are more likely to become offered.http://www.drugsense.org/tfy/u...http://erx.sagepub.com/content...

Not a well thought out response. Last I checked, cops are still "individuals" and were before they became members of law enforcement. Individuals have certain obligations imposed on them by society as well, but that doesn't mean they will always follow through with them, same goes for cops. My previous response to ludwig applies to you as well.

Yes. An "individual" is a vague term. A cop is a specific term implying specific things, such as accountability, dash cams, partners, filing reports that you are required by law to file truthfully, and other things that "individual" does not imply.

I'm sorry you have such a poor commanding of the English language. You twit.

You also don't know how to paste links so that they actually work. So it's no surprise to me, between your inability to spell and link, that you have not found the bounty of information regarding studies tracking drug use of children who go through DARE programs. They all show an increase, or no decrease.

If you can get your hands on "Dennis Rosenbaum, PhD, and Gordon Hanson, PhD, "Assessing the Effects of School-based Drug Education: A 6-year Multilevel Analysis of Project D.A.R.E.," Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, Nov. 1998", you can read the conclusions there.The conclusion was "that suburban students who participated in D.A.R.E. reported a 3%-5% higher rate of drug use than suburban students who did not participate."

Now, this is just one study, the worst, which I cited. Another 30 or so don't show an increase -- simply no decrease.For more info:http://dare.procon.org/